Friday Night

Hadn't been to a club in a while before deciding at the last minute to drop in following a Kent basketball game a few weeks back. As I drove from KSU further into rural NE Ohio, I began to wonder if I'd made a wise choice given some of the negative stereotypes associated with rural clubs. The club went way beyond my expectations in both building and entertainer quality. Being a Friday night, there was a good crowd with a reasonable mix of older regulars and college kids (some of whom brought dates). There were a handful of girls you wouldn't expect to see dancing at one of the bigger clubs downtown (including Diamond Lodge's parent club in the flats). These girls were outnumbered by truly beautiful young dancers, many of whom I think were students at one of the half dozen colleges in the area.

Hourly dance specials came up throughout the night. During peak hours, they included a shrit/hat/shot glass. As the club emptied, they moved to discounts on multiple dances. Dances are done in a large open room behind the bar. There are a couple rows of couches monitored by a bouncer sitting behind a desk. Diamond Lodge has the strictest no touching policies of any club I've visited. If a finger so much as touched a girl's shoulders or back, they were quick to remind you of the policy. Dances had little contact going the other way as well. Even after you found a dancer you wanted to spend some money with, they could be very difficult to track down. Girls are firmly entrenched with their regulars (strangely, some of whom were college kids spending no money). Between me and a couple other customers, these girls missed a chance to make more than a few bucks.

The last thing worth touching on are the shower shows. Because it was a busy night, every hour or two a pair of girls would circle the club selling tickets to the show for $20. As something different, the show was fun and included the girls rubbing each other down with some glow in the dark soap. It was odd to sit in what amounted to stadium seating with a dozen guys you don't know gawking over the show, but the girls made you forget that quickly.